Transcript:Confusion at the North End
Aramaki: This isn't like you, Major. This sort of foul-up. Motoko: I don't know what to say. Batou: It was too soon for the rookies to be out here. It's crazy to try to train them in the field. Tachikoma: Why not download Yano's memories into a cyberbrain? Won't that bring him back online? Saito: No. Even if you copied his memories, his Ghost still wouldn't be there, because you can't duplicate one. Aramaki: If our only concern were maintaining Section 9, new personnel might not be necessary. But taking into consideration how incidents like this might play out in the near future, we need to face the issue and overcome it. Motoko: Maybe. Even so, I'm taking Azuma off this op. Aramaki: Very well. Ishikawa: Show the kid some respect, okay? Take care of him. Aramaki: This intel I'm about to share with you is information that I received from an old friend of mine. We have confirmation that Boris Jabrov, a former Russian Army officer who turned mobster, and several of his men have smuggled plutonium out of their country. They entered Etorofu with this material. Togusa: And you think that Kuze is planning to buy that plutonium, don't you? Ishikawa: So, they're gonna go nuclear and declare themselves an independent country. "Ballsy" is an understatement. Aramaki: One of his cyborg accomplices killed an intelligence operative who was conducting a sting operation. Their current whereabouts are unknown. Batou: The spook was killed two hours ago, huh? Okay. So what are we gonna do now? I guess we don't have a lot of options left at this point. Motoko: Guess not. Batou: If he's dead, how do we get a fix on their location? Rushing to Etorofu without a plan won't get us anywhere. Aramaki: The intel I acquired hints that Etrofu branch of the Sagawa Electronics is expanding their underground facilities in the Berutarube district without permission. Batou: Berutarube? Didn't there used to be a Russian sub pen there? Ishikawa: As I recall, the Russian Army blew that submarine base up and buried it when they pulled out. Aramaki: That's right. And if Sagawa's expansion construction has been proceeding smoothly since then, they should be right on top of that old base by now. Togusa: Well, well... Pretty tricky. A submarine base would be the perfect place to hide camouflaged ships. Batou: But we've got no hard evidence. Motoko: If they're laying the ground work for a deal of this magnitude, the local snitches ought to have heard a thing or two about it. Chief, we'll head straight up to Etorofu. Just to be safe, request that the Maritime Self Defense Army put up a blockade around Dejima. If the refugees get their hands on a nuke, it'll be chaos down there. Aramaki: I'll do that. But I have faith in you people. If we miss this chance to apprehend Kuze, the CIS's misdeeds will vanish into the shadows, and the military is going to step in. We mustn't let Dejima be turned into a war zone. Refugee1: How's it look? Refugee2: I think we're okay. It doesn't look like there are any traps. Kuze: We have time before the deal. Take breaks in shifts. Refugees: Understood. Right. Batou: Come on, you got to eat something. Are you sure you're feeling all right? Motoko: Disgusting... This so-called food tastes awful. I'll have to complain to the Chief. Ishikawa: We've got some time to kill before we land. You want to run a cyberbrain function check? Motoko: I'm all right. The extent of Kuze's delusion threw me for a loop, that's all it is. Batou: That's what I don't get. What the hell kind of delusions could this guy possibly have, huh? Motoko: To put it simply, I guess you could call it world domination. Batou: What do you say? Ishikawa: He sounds like a serious megalomaniac. You're not one to let something like this get to you. Batou: You remind me of a moony teenager who's just met the man of her fantasies, Geez. Motoko: Right. But we know one thing for sure: that although he manifested symptoms of the Individual Eleven virus, his current actions are motivated by the character traits and ideology that he had to begin with. But, while this delusion he entertains might be absurd, the thing that keeps me from laughing it off is that he genuinely believes he can bring peace to the world by rising to power as a dictator. That's the sense I got from him. Plus, his adrenaline secretion levels were high enough to kill an ordinary man. In my opinion, it's safe to assume that he's reached his sacred level. Batou: What do you mean, sacred level? Motoko: Kuze is becoming extraordinary. Looking back on history you'll see them, men like him have wielded unbelievable power. For instance, Che Guevara, Malcolm X, and Cassius Clay, they're are all textbook examples. Batou: Is Kuze different from Hitler? Motoko: In the sense he's similar, but he's closer to Martin Luther King or Gandhi from an ideological standpoint. The refugees who are continually linked to him by way of his zoned and filtered net are experiencing a high from the live feed of Kuze's actions. But the reason they don't attempt to influence him and share their consciousness is because they know that the area beyond his Ghost Line is a kill zone. Even I had a pretty close call in there. Batou: Well, that was a downer... Motoko: Ishikawa, Paz, Borma, remain on standby. Be ready unless we've got the site location wrong. Ishikawa: Roger. Mobs: Death to militarists! Togusa: Pretty rough place, wouldn't you say? Motoko: This belongs to Japan, but friction between the Japanese and those of Russian descent won't fade overnight. Tachikoma: Wow! They're constructing a geofront! Saito: It'd be my guess that if we follow this towards the base, we can run right into Kuze. Batou: If we have any luck left on our side... Tachikoma: And if we don't? Batou: Then we'll just end up having a nice chat with Sagawa's construction personnel. We can't afford to wait around until we get word from the Major. Kuze: Yes, what is it? Kid: I came on board this ship because I heard we were going to buy weapons. But if I'd known that you were the one who was heading up the mission, I never would've come here in the first place. Kuze: I see. In that case, don't follow me. You're free to go home, or you can disappear into the streets of Etorofu if you like. I won't force you to stay. Kid: I'm all for a revolution, you know. But the one who originally taught us how to revolt was Densetsu, and your group killed him. Now "Comrade Kuze" is the name that most of the people on Dejima have come to know. But there are very few who have any idea who you really are. And that's why I just don't buy into all your hype. I'm still prepared to follow Densetsu's teachings and blow myself up. Kuze: Don't be foolish. Suicide bombings are nothing more than self-gratification. Revolutions are only brought about by people's Ghosts. Kid: This is why I need to find out more about you. Just give me a reason to believe in you that all I'm asking. 'cause otherwise... How about it?! Kuze: The weapon that we're here to obtain today is plutonium. I'm going to use it to coerce the Japanese government to recognize Dejima as an independent country. Henchman: You repay people when you borrow stuff from them! It's the most basic rule of all! We clear on that?! Motoko: Looks like you're a real bigshot now. Henchman: Huh? Motoko: What do you have so much of that you can lend it out? Henchman: I'll be! Good to see you, Miss! Motoko: You remembered. I've heard rumors that Krolden is still working inside here, they true? Henchman: Yeah, of course they are! Right this way! He's still the cautious type, you know. Come on. Right this way. Motoko: Togusa, I want you to wait here for me. Henchman: He's down there. Motoko: I want you to wait here, too. In this line of work, no one likes people who are too eager to flatter. Henchman: Must be rough, work with that little lady, I don't envy you, one bit. If you get on a bad side, you are out of luck. She'll make you regret it something fierce. Motoko: Krolden, it's Major Kusanagi. I still owe you for your help during the Nemuro landing op. An attack barrier? He wasn't fried that long ago... Where was he diving that got him killed? Someone's still in the system. Even so, the guy fried a hacker of Krolden's caliber, he must have some serious ability. The way the attack barrier was configured isn't sanctioned by the Secrets Preservation Act, either. Found it. Floppies... He's using such antique media for external memory storage. Was that guy still here because he had trouble erasing these? Sagawa's secret ledgers, huh? Motoko: "For sale: lemon cake, 20 kilos." Motoko: Lemon cake? Motoko: "$500,000 per kilo." "M: Au pulled out of deal." "Broker: Sagawa K." "B.J.: lemon cake, 20 kilos." "K: 40% cut as severance pay." "Buyer: introduced through B.P." Motoko: Just as I thought, he's been back-hacking the data for the plutonium deal. Motoko: "Sagawa's K..." Motoko: "K" is Kagazaki, Far North Special Services Chief? He's acting as the broker and he's selling it at $500,000 a kilo... The seller is Boris Jabrov... The buyer is... ASIAN / B.P. It must refer to the refugees... Which means that the hacker just now was... Looks like Kagazaki's cut is in yen... The down payment's already been deposited with Sagawa. 240 million yen? How did the refugees come up with that kind of cash? Did Kuze line it up for them? If he did, how did he do it? This was still a big help. You once said that the Japanese company you hated the most was Sagawa Electronics. Now I get it... You should have thought it over before you gave up your job with the Press Ministry. If you hadn't quit, the CIS might have turned to a more legitimate agency. Motoko: Ishikawa, the deal is going down at the nuclear submarine base. There's also a chance that the CIS is mixed up in this. Ishikawa: There is?! Motoko: We don't have much time. Where are Batou and Saito? Ishikawa: Already deep underground. Their comms are blocked. We'll head over there ASAP. Refugee1: We should get going. It's almost time. Kid: Wait! Tell me one other thing! I once heard that you would need something like 250 thousand dollars to buy plutonium. How are you gonna get that much money? Are you gonna con the plutonium out of the Russians? Kuze: No, I will buy it from them fair and square. The citizens live off the sweat of the refugees' brows, so to help them understand our suffering, I'm arranging for them to make a small donation to us. I suppose that doesn't clarify things very well. This is how it works. The populace, who takes their warm clothes and full stomachs for granted has a combined savings easily in excess of 900 trillion yen. Of course, they also pay no attention to this total. In addition, did you know that there are sums that don't officially exist among the interest accrued by those savings? Kid: They don't exist? What do you mean? Kuze: Amounts of less than one yen. Fractional numbers that aren't normally displayed. They don't even appear in terminal data. I realized. That if one would simply collect those tiny sums from online bank accounts, it would add up to tens of thousands per day. I put together a program that deposits these leftover funds into my dummy account. That's where I got the money. The general public has completely unaware that they have fractional sums of money in their bank accounts. And does for bank management. It's entirely left up to A. I.s now. In spite of the fact that the refugees are taxed if they work on the mainland, they aren't allowed to become naturalized citizens. For the citizens' part, they don't even recognize the massive exploitation inherent in the system. They absorb only the information that appeals to them, that's easy to accept. Theirs is a phony society. I want to open their eyes to that fact. Kid: How much money do you have in that account now? Kuze: Roughly 10 billion, 760 million. This will be the war chest for our revolution. Kid: Holy crap... Man, who the hell are you? Kuze: I'm just a simple terrorist. Although I suppose I'm a little high on heroism at the moment. I want you to stay here. Have the boat ready to sail at a moment's notice. I'm counting on you. Saito: This is the expansion sector, huh? Foreman: More of you? What do you got going on today? I assume you two have authorization to be here. Saito: You're in charge? Batou: Hey, you said "More of you?" What did you mean by that?! Foreman: Well, two of our company's Arm Suits came through here a while ago. And not long before that, this rather shady-looking Russian cyborg showed up. I saw him go in that direction. And he was carrying two huge suitcases. Saito: Think it's them? Ishikawa: Maybe! Batou: But what's the army doing here?! Kuze: Why are you here by yourself? Coil: Jabrov and Kagazaki are both under Public Security surveillance. So that's why I had to come alone. Let's hurry up and get this transaction over with. Kuze: As you wish. The deposit record for the account you designated is stored in here. Verify it. Motoko: I'll go first! The rest of you, follow when you can! Coil: It appears that we have a deal. Since neither one of us was going to be able to verify the goods. Tachikoma: Throw down your weapons and come out! You are under arrest on suspicion of violating the revised arms export law and illegal trafficking in nuclear materials! Batou: C'mon, show yourself already. Tachikoma: Huh? Uh-oh! Batou: Saito! Something is dicey! I'll handle things here! You nab Koil! Saito: Got it! Batou: Crap! I'm heading out! Make sure you squash that bug! Kuze! Hold it! Put the cases on the ground! Kuze: Why didn't you shoot right away? Because you know what's in the cases? Batou: I don't give a damn what's in them. The only thing I'm after here is your head! Kuze: I don't think you'll be able to do that. Grab the cases and get back to the ship. Refugees: Kuze... Kuze: Go! Batou: You think you can take me, you bastard! Category:Transcripts